GB2274806A - Baling press - Google Patents

Abstract

A baling press comprises a baling chamber 10 defined by four walls and a pivotally connected floor plate 28, a press plate 24 movable towards the base for compressing material therein and a discharge means for discharging a bale of material through an opening in a wall of the chamber which is closed by a door 12 during compression. The discharge means comprises a pull rod 36, one end 38 of which is pivotally connected to an edge of the floor plate 28 and the other end 42 is releasably engagable with the press plate 24, such that when the upper end of the pull rod 36 is engaged with the press plate 24 and the press plate is raised, the floor plate 28 pivots in an action to discharge a bale through the opening. The pull rod 36 is operated by a latch means 50 which in turn is operated by the opening and closing of the door 12. <IMAGE>

Description

A Baling Press This invention relates to a baling press and particularly to a baling press comprising means for discharging a bale therefrom.

Baling presses have a number of uses, an example of which is the compacting of waste paper and cardboard etc. In such an apparatus, batches of waste are sequentially placed into a container and each batch is pressed by a press plate to form a compressed block of waste which may be subsequently bound by straps, waves or the like but which in any case is removed from the press for disposal.

A typical baling press or compactor of the above type generally comprises the following components, a press chamber defined by a base and four walls, a hydraulic or the like press plate which is movable, from a first position directly above said chamber, towards the base member of said chamber so as to compress the waste therein and from said first rest position to a second rest position at one side of the chamber thereby allowing the waste to be placed in the chamber, and a discharging device for unloading bales through an opening in one of the chamber walls, said opening being closed by a door or the like during compacting.

In use, once the chamber has been provided with a first batch of waste the press plate is moved from said second to said first rest positions and the waste batch is subsequently compressed. Typically the press plate is operable by hydraulic cylinders and once actuated said plate moves towards the base of the chamber until a position switch device detects the press plate in a pre-determined position.

Once this position is attained the direction of movement of the plate is reversed until it reaches the first rest position.

The press plate may then be moved into the second rest position and the next batch of waste is placed in the chamber after which the compression cycle is repeated.

Having reached the predetermined position, the compressed waste is baled by maintaining the press plate on the waste at a maximum pressure by means of a pressure activated switch, opening the above mentioned door and tying bands or cords or the like around the compressed waste. The baling pressure is now relieved by raising the baling press plate, and use is made of this movement, whilst the door is still open to eject the bale through the opening normally closed by the door.

One of the main problems with this type of apparatus is effective design of the means for discharging the bales from the chamber. Before discharge devices were used bales were manually removed by pulling on the bands or cords or the like around the waste.

One known example of such a discharge device comprises a pivotable base member and one or more pull rods having a toothed upper end or hooked upper ends actuated by the press plate, whereby the bale is discharged by the pull rod, being moved by said press plate when the press plate is raised to its first rest position after the baling operation. The lower end of the pull rod is attached to the pivotable base member such that when said upper end of the pull rod is being lifted by the press plate the base member pivots and thereby tips the bale towards the opening.

A further alternative discharging means for this type of baler is disclosed in British Patent No 2019773 wherein said device comprises a pivotable floor plate and at least one pull member acted upon by the press plate, but, each of said pull members is "L" shaped, having a horizontal leg pivotally connected inwardly of the free end of the floor plate and a vertical leg, the upper end thereof comprising a hook, engagable with the press plate when the container door is open.

This arrangement is used to provide that the floor plate will be tilted to a greater extent for the same degree of 'lift' of the press plate and that the free end of the floor plate will be successively removed from the pull member, thereby enhancing bale ejection.

The pull rod must however engage the press plate when the door is open, for obvious reasons and the discharge mechanism has latch means provide that the pull rod is disengaged from the press plate when the door is closed. Such latch means comprises a push rod which is spring loaded to a retracted position but which is adapted to be engaged by the door, when closed, to move it to a protracted position in which it rocks the pull rod away from a position which the pull rod takes up naturally due to gravity. When the door is opened therefore the push rod moves under the action of the spring loading to allow the pull rod to rock, under gravity, into engagement with the press plate.

This arrangement suffers from the disadvantage that dependence is made on gravity to ensure that the hooking of the pull rod onto the press plate takes place at the correct time. Such effects are not always predictable in that if for any reason there is an increase in the friction on the pull rock, it may not effectively move under the gravitational force.

Also, as the door will be closed for much larger periods (during pressing and during down time) than when it is open, the springing of the latch means is more or less constantly under stress. If it fails, the pull rod will fall unknowingly into the hooked position, and operation of the apparatus as this condition could be damaging and dangerous.

The alternative method of latching wherein the pull rod lands to fall by gravity to the unhooked position and the latch means, operable upon opening of the door, serves positively to move the pull lever into the hooked position, therefore suggests itself as the preferred alternative. The present invention concerns latching arrangement of this type which is simple and effective.

According to the invention a baling press comprises a baling chamber defined by four walls, a pivotally connected floor plate, a base, a press plate movable towards the base for compressing material therein and a discharge means for discharging a bale of material through an opening in a wall of the chamber which is closed by a door during compression, wherein said discharge means comprises a pull rod, one (a lower) end of which is connected to an edge of said floor plate and the other (an upper) end being releasably engagable with said press plate, such that when the upper end of the pull rod is engaged with said press plate and the press plate is raised, the floor plate pivots in an action to discharge a bale through said opening, and wherein the pull rod is operated by a latch means which in turn is operated by the door such that when said door is closed the latch means is inoperative and the pull rod can fall by gravity to be disengaged from the press plate, and said latch means comprises a spring loaded member which when the door is opened is placed by the spring loading to in turn displace a roller on which the pull rod rests to displace the pull rod into a position in which the upper end engages the press plate.

Preferably, the pull rod is of L shape and has a longer leg disposed upright and a shorter leg disposed substantially horizontally. The free end of the shorter leg preferably is pivotally connected to the free edge of the floor plate.

The said roller preferably engages the elbow of the pull rod.

The press plate preferably is movable by hydraulic rams, from a first rest position directly above said container, towards the base member of said chamber so as to compress the waste therein and from said first rest position to a second rest position at one side of the container thereby allowing waste to be placed in the container.

A baling press according to the invention herein will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing of which the single figure is a detailed view of the discharge means of the baling press.

Referring to the drawing, baling press discharge mechanism is illustrated in side elevation, and the baling chamber is indicated by reference 10. This chamber 10 is defined by front door 12 a rear wall 14 which is made up of a plurality of parallel bars 18, and side walls 16 and 20 so that the chamber 10 is generally box-shaped.

The chamber is also defined by a base in the region 22, the base not being shown in the drawing, and the top of the chamber is faced by a press plate 24 which is movable up and down as indicated by the arrow 26 in order to effect the compression of material to be baled and which is placed in the chamber 10, as will be explained hereinafter.

In the region of the base 22 is provided a floor plate 28 which is pivotally mounted in relation to a frame cross beam 30 at pivot 32 which is located to the front edge of the floor plate 28, and at the rear edge of the floor plate 28 is a further pivot 34 by which a pull rod 36 is pivotally connected to the rear free edge of plate 28.

As shown, the pull rod 36 is in the form of an angled lever plate which fits between a pair of the rear plates 18, and is provided with a horizontal section 38 and a vertical section 40. Of the vertical section 40 a top portion 42 angles forward, and terminates in a hook 44 of the configuration shown.

The press plate 24 is provided on its rear edge with a pin 46 which is adapted to be engaged by the hook 44 in a manner to be hereinafter explained. A stop member 48 is connected to one of the bars 18 to limit the extent of pivoting of the pull rod 40 on pivot 34.

Under the floor plate 28 is slidably supported an actuating rod 50 of a latch means, the rod 50 being supported by an angle iron bar 52 and a cross bar 54.

Compression spring 56 acts between the angle iron bar 52 and a stop collar 58 to urge the latch bar 50 to the right in the figure. The bar 50 passes through an aperture in the frame member 30, and its right hand end abuts a pin 60 carried by the door 12 pin also projecting through the frame member 30 but at the opposite side thereof.

At the left hand end, latch bar 50 is provided with a threaded coupling sleeve 62 which is pivotally connected to a lever 64 at pivot 66. The lever 64 is pivoted to a mounting bracket 68 at the base of a frame bar 18 at pivot mounting 70, and at an upper free end of the lever 66 is provided a cam roller 72 which engages a flat 74 or cam track at the outer side of the elbow connection between the horizontal and upright arms 38 and 40 of the pull rod 36.

In the full line position shown with the door 12 in the closed position, the latch means is rendered inoperative in that the latch rod 50 is displaced against the spring 56 to the left, and rocking pressure on the pull rod 36 is releaved so that the pull rod can fall by gravity to the full line position shown in which the hook 44 is disengaged from the pin 46. The mechanism remains in this position whilst the baling operation to be described below continues.

In the baling operation, a batch of waste material is placed in chamber 10, the plate 24 being appropriately raised and moved to one side to enable this to take place. After the batch of material is so placed, the press plate 24 is moved from a lateral position to a first position directly above chamber 10. The press plate 24 is then lowered by compression hydraulic rams to compress the batch of material to a maximum compression which is indicated automatically and upon completion of this stroke, the plate 24 is retracted to the first position and again moved laterally so that a further batch of material can be placed in the chamber 10.

The process of compressing the batch of material is completed and the cycle of operation is repeated as many times as is necessary to form the complete bale in the chamber 10. When the bale has been thus formed, the press plate 24 is maintained in the downwardly disposed position at maximum pressure keeping the waste material firmly compacted. At this stage, the door 12 is opened, and by conventional arrangement appropriate tie bands or straps are wrapped around the bale in order to keep it in a compressed condition when as will be described, the press plate 24 is again moved upwardly to the first position.

With the opening of the door 12, pin 60 is removed with the door, and the latch rod 50 can now move under the action of spring 56 to the right in the figure. This has the effect of pivoting the lever 66 which urges the cam roller 72 into contact with the pull rod 36 and causes pivoting of same about pivot 34 to the dotted line position shown in which hook 44 engages pin 46 on the press plate. When the strapping of the bale has been completed and it is desired to eject the bale through the opening created by opening of the door 12, the press plate 24 is lifted to the position raising the pull rod 36 to the dotted line position 36A which causes the floor plate 28 to be raised to the ejecting position as shown and in such a position the bale is effectively discharged from the machine. During this lifting operation as will be understood from the drawing, the pull rod 36 also executes an anti-clockwise pivoting movement on the pin 46 so that the pull rod 36 and the floor plate 28 move into the relatively aligned position.

When the bale has been ejected and the press plate 24 is again lowered to re-load the latch mechanism, the floor plate 28 pivots to the full line position and the pull rod 36 returns to the dotted line position 36B. When the door 12 is subsequently closed, pin 60 engages a rod 50 and displaces same leftwards in the figure against the action of compression spring 56 releasing the lift effect on the pull rod 36 which now falls backwards by gravity and by pivoting about pivot 34 to the full line position, completing the entire cycle of operation. The machine is now ready to commence the production of another compressed bale as described above.

Claims (11)

1. A baling press comprises a baling chamber defined by four walls, a pivotally connected floor plate, a base, a press plate movable towards the base for compressing material therein and a discharge means for discharging a bale of material through an opening in a wall of the chamber which is closed by a door during compression, wherein::said discharge means comprises a pull rod, one (a lower) end of which is connected to an edge of said floor plate and the other (an upper) end being releasably engagable with said press plate, such that when the upper end of the pull rod is engaged with said press plate and the press plate is raised, the floor plate pivots in an action to discharge a bale through said opening, and wherein the pull rod is operated by a latch means which in turn is operated by the door such that when said door is closed the latch means is inoperative and the pull rod can fall by gravity to be disengaged from the press plate, and said latch means comprises a spring loaded member which when the door is opened is placed by the spring loading to in turn displace a roller on which the pull rod rests to displace the pull rod into a position in which the upper end engages the press plate.

2. A baling press in accordance with claim 1 wherein the pull rod is of an L shape and has a longer leg disposed upright and a shorter leg disposed substantially horizontally.

3. A baling press in accordance with claim 1 or 2 wherein the free end of the shorter leg is pivotally connected to the free edge of the floor plate.

4. A baling press in accordance with claims 1,'2 or 3 wherein said roller engages the elbow of the pull rod.

5. A baling press in accordance with any preceding claim wherein said latch means comprises an actuating rod adapted to urge the roller to contact the pull rod and cause same to engage the press plate upon the opening of the door.

6. A baling press in accordance with claim 4 or 5 wherein said roller is a cam roller which also engages a flat or cam track at the outer side of the elbow of the pull rod.

7. A baling press in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the press plate is movable by hydraulic rams, from a first rest position directly above said container, towards the base member of said chamber so as to compress the waste therein and from said first rest position to a second rest position at one side of the container thereby allowing waste to be placed in the container.

8. A baling press in accordance with any preceding claim wherein a stop member limits the extent of pivoting of the pull rod relative to the floor plate.

9. A baling press in accordance with claim 8 wherein the stop member is adapted to guide the upper section of the pull rod into engagement with the press plate.

10. A baling press in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the upper end of the pull rod comprises a hook which is adapted to releasably engage a pin on the press plate.

11. A baling press substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.